Avoiding Extreme Reactions

Although his hearing is normal, and despite allowing for slowness at a particular age, it may be that your baby is not progressing as to forming words and linking them together.

What can be done?

Well, the worst reaction is to panic and go to either of two extremes.

The one extreme is to look upon the child as some sort of “freak” and excessively blame yourself or the child.

If a baby falls and breaks his leg, what parent would not rush him to a doctor to have it set?

But somehow “broken” speech is viewed as the child’s fault and so it is something to be ignored or to be ashamed of rather than something to be repaired.

It is true that often the home circumstances have contributed to the faulty speech pattern, but that is all the more reason to give real attention to both the child and the relationships within the household.

Frequently, speech therapists can quickly help a small child to solve a speech or language problem, whereas if allowed to live on that way, the difficulty may be so ingrained that it is virtually impossible to correct.

The other extreme is one of frantic dismay expressed in such a way that the child senses that he is the object of much anxiety.

He is made to feel that he MUST speak otherwise.

Especially with stutterers, this added pressure usually pushes them farther into the non-fluency pattern.

Rather, as with small infants discussed earlier, there is the greatest need for patience and tenderness on the part of parents.

Avoid constantly correcting and nagging; instead, try to get the young one’s mind off his speech problem.

Frequently, when his mind is turned away from the impediment, the child can speak normally.

In addition, it is important that older brothers and sisters be aided to see the need of treating the stutterer with tender affection—not always cutting him off when he tries to talk, thus inducing frustration and anxiety.

Such treatment of children is invaluable in helping an infant with a speech impediment and who thus is often also termed a “slow learner.”

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